Matt Gives a Clue & Matt in the Cave
by Bumpkin
Summary: Matt lets Terry know that he knows... and the aftermath. Matt three and four.
1. Matt gives a Clue

A.N. I want to thank everyone that read and reviewed these fics to date and warn that this one is quite a bit longer and for some reason, some angst or drama crept in. But seeing as it involves two siblings who haven't seen eye to eye for a while - that shoulda been expected to a certain degree.

And on another note, I just found out that FF net strips both tildas and asterisks.. which is really annoying to me because that is how I denote a scene break in my wips... ARGH!

Again, remember that FDK is brainfood for the muse (or maybe its more like a drug - always in need of another fix...;-), so lots and lots of FDK will get you more fic from me.

sincerely, Marns

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Disclaimer: I've said it before...  
  
Description: Matt lets Terry know that he knows.  
  
Matt Gives a Clue: Terry's Due   
By Marns AKA   
Bumpkin Rated: PG  
  
It was late on Friday afternoon and Matt McGinnis was sitting in his room waiting for a specific phone call. It had been just under three weeks since Matt had first began to suspect what his brother did at night, and a little over two since Matt had confirmed his suspicions. It was the weekend of the McGinnis brothers' monthly bonding ritual.  
  
In the past, Matt normally tried to cut down the time he spent with Terry during these 'brotherly bonding' sessions – arranging to meet for the day and then begging off come evening. This time however, he had another agenda entirely. This time he was going to surprise his brother. He was planning on accepting Terry's standard invitation to sleep over at his apartment for the weekend. There were a few things that the two of them really needed to discuss, Matt mused darkly.  
  
Right at five the phone rang. 'Like clockwork Ter,' Matt thought with amusement as he reached over and flipped on the personal vid-screen in his room. "Hey Ter," he greeted his brother's smiling face. "How's it going?"  
  
"Pretty good, how about with you?" Matt made a non-committal noise in answer and Terry grinned even wider. "That good eh? So, you wanna come over tomorrow? Feel up to hanging out with your older bro this weekend?"  
  
That was Matt's cue, "Yeah actually, sure – I think that I could really go for that this weekend."  
  
Terry's gaze had been wandering a bit until he heard his brother's answer, then it snapped to Matt's face and sharpened. Matt had to fight a very strong urge to squirm, 'Damn! How come I never saw how intently Terry can look at someone before?' The answer came to him when Terry's attention was pulled to somewhere off screen. 'Probably because it's never been directed right at you before, twip.' Matt was really beginning to worry about his mental health; he was starting to have way too many conversations with himself lately.  
  
Terry looked back to Matt as he said, "Okay then, listen, I gotta get going right now but we are definitely on. So what time do you want to meet tomorrow and where?"  
  
Matt thought for a moment – now that he knew for sure that he was spending the weekend with Terry, he had some errands to run before he met his brother. "Cheesy Dan's at four? That way we can grab something for dinner on our way back to your place."  
  
"Sounds good to me, see ya then," and without any fanfare, Terry hung up. Matt followed his brother's lead a little slower, thinking that if anything this was going to be an interesting weekend, to say the least.

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Matt was laughing so hard he was snorting. "Oh my god Terry, I can't believe you did that!"  
  
Terry looked over at his hysterical younger brother and affected a snooty air, holding the pizza box he was carrying like some kind of silver tray as he said, "But my dear boy, what you don't understand is that you can't judge the value of a book from its cover – you have to 'delve' deeply into its pages – "  
  
"Stop! I'm dying here!" Matt cut his brother off gasping for breath.  
  
Terry flashed his struggling brother a grin. "C'mon Matt, the guy was a pretentious SOB who obviously isn't native to these parts or he would have recognized me even with my being dressed like this." He indicated his casual t-shirt and jeans, with the perpetual backpack slung over his one shoulder. "As the personal assistant to the one and only Bruce Wayne, I certainly have been on the vids enough. He deserved what he got, from me and the maitre de."  
  
"I'm not arguing about that, I just can't believe that you did it. The guy was more than twice your age and you tore a strip off him a mile wide. I wouldn't have been able to do anything like that." Matt confessed.  
  
"After working for Bruce Wayne for all this time, there is very little that I can't or won't do." Terry said grinning and Matt thought, 'Yeah, I bet!' All he did was "hmm" a bit though. It was still too early to get into that, and besides – he was having fun with his brother, now that he had given him a chance.  
  
Watching Terry put the pompous jerk at the restaurant in his place had been an eye opener to the man his brother had grown into, especially after the afternoon they had spent challenging each other on all the games at Cheesy Dan's. Matt was wondering how he had missed what a complex person his brother was for all this time. He'd let old misconceptions from the past colour his opinions for too long. He'd always dismissed Terry in a number of ways – as a former juvenile delinquent who went through life in one big brawl, as an old man's errand boy turned into a stuffed shirt office worker.  
  
Or Matt realized with the glimmer of understanding, as the older brother that had abandoned him – several times over. He had resented Terry for a long time. Blamed him for a lot of things that weren't entirely his fault, or at least – were things that he shouldn't have been held for judgment on. Matt now realized that he'd been hurt and resentful when Terry had first started to work for Mr. Wayne, because it always seemed that the job was more important than the family Terry was part of. Then when it was a perfectly natural time for Terry to move out, Matt again had been upset and angry – Terry was finding yet another way to abandon them. Matt guessed that he had probably felt so strongly about those two things because of the time Terry had spent in juvvie, and then with their father after the divorce. He had been too young at that time to really understand anything except that his worshipped older brother was leaving him behind.  
  
"Hey," Terry's concerned voice broke into his thoughts, "you okay bro? You zoned out on me all of a sudden there. Something bothering you?"  
  
Matt gave himself a shake, like a dog would after getting wet, and replied, "Nah, just got some stuff on my mind. It's that growing up thing that us teenagers do – makes us moody buggers at times."  
  
Terry laughed. "Okay, just wanted to make sure. Anyway, we're he-re. I don't know about you, but I'm starving!" He waved the steaming pizza box under Matt's nose and said, "What do you say that we go up and make this disappear like magic?"  
  
Matt's stomach growled from the tantalizing aromas still wafting around his head. "You are right on my wavelength, let's go!" He started to run past his brother and impishly added, "Race ya!"  
  
Terry just shook his head and kept walking sedately to the elevators – Matt wasn't going to get very far, they were passkey encoded.

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"Ugh, I'm full. I don't think that I could eat another bite if you paid me!" Matt complained as he pushed his chair back from Terry's dining room table and leaned back.  
  
Terry chuckled, "That's what you get for acting like such a glutton. That last piece wasn't going anywhere y'know, it could have waited." Matt did the only thing acceptable by a teen when being lectured in such a way by an elder – he stuck out his tongue.  
  
Matt complained good-naturedly. "God Terry, there's no need to age yourself before your time. Remember – you're only twenty-three." Terry blew him a raspberry. Matt grinned, that was more like it!  
  
Trying not to dwell on how overfull his stomach felt, Matt let his eyes wander curiously around Terry's apartment. He had only been here a couple of times and hadn't stayed very long either time. He had noticed that when they came in Terry had deliberately hit a switch or something very subtly – looking around now, Matt wondered what his brother had disabled. There was nothing that looked out of the ordinary – well, if you considered swanky ordinary that is. Matt was pretty impressed with his surroundings now that he'd actually looked at them. 'Kinda the same way you felt when you finally looked at Terry' he thought to himself wryly.  
  
His wandering gaze ultimately met up with his brother's steady blue eyes. Matt felt a little uncomfortable to have been caught so obviously sizing the place up, but then Terry smiled, "Nice digs eh?" Matt nodded; he'd been just thinking that after all. Terry leaned forward over the table and motioned for Matt to do the same. He obliged, curious.  
  
"I'll let you in on a secret, this building – it belongs to Wayne." Terry stage whispered and then he sat back and grinned.  
  
Matt's mouth fell open. "No way! So, you at least have to pay rent right?" the younger boy asked.  
  
"Nope. I oversee the business end of the management here and get to live here rent free as a perk." Terry said smugly.  
  
"Jeez. No wonder you moved out if you get to live here for free –." Then Matt thought of something, "but you know that you're kinda a stuffed shirt superintendent now, right?" Matt laughingly ducked as Terry pitched a wadded up napkin at him.  
  
"Shut up you!" was all Terry said though. "Anyway, what did you want to do tonight? There anything I can help you with?" He asked casually enough, but that intent look was back and trained on Matt.  
  
'Damn! I wish he'd stop doing that,' Matt thought as nerves started to make him regret having eaten as much as he had. He began to wonder again how Terry was going to react to being told that his younger brother had figured out his secret. Would he be mad? Glad? Would he hate that Matt knew? Would he be a combination of all of the above and more – or none? There were so many variables and Matt didn't know Terry well enough to make any guesses anymore.  
  
"Cred for your thoughts?" Terry asked. Matt's attention was drawn back to his brother as the older man said, "You keep going a million miles away on me Matt – there's something bothering you. Tell me about it?"  
  
He got up and motioned for Matt to come and sit with him in the living room. Matt followed and sat down on the couch, tucking one leg up under the other, trying to figure out how to begin.  
  
Only one thing to do – start talking. Rather than bring up the kidnapping story right away, he'd lead into it, "This week at school we were doing a block on endangered and extinct species and one of the things they said was doing the most damage, were poachers. Well, this one kid who isn't the brightest had to ask what a poacher was – the explanation he got kinda threw me. The teacher said that a poacher was a hunter that pursued his or her prey unlawfully and unethically. It made me think of that guy that kidnapped me when I was eight." There, that was a nice and easy lead in – sorta.  
  
Terry was looking a bit pained, and Matt suddenly remembered something the freaky guy had said after telling him not to be so dramatic. He had said that Matt was 'merely bait', and since he had been hunting Batman – he must have somehow known who Batman was under the suit to have snatched Matt as bait. So many things were becoming clearer now.  
  
Matt pressed on, "I guess that hearing it explained like that helped me to remember some stuff that I never did before. 'Cause now I can remember asking the guy what he was going to do to me –" he paused frowning for a second but then shook his head. "I can't remember what stupid things I thought he was going to do – all I can remember now is him telling me not to be so 'dramatic' and that I was 'merely bait'." Terry was faintly smiling again. Matt had a deft gift for mimicry and even after all this time was able to imitate Stalker very well.  
  
"Anyway, after that I asked him what happened to his back and he told me this story about a hunting accident and how they had to replace his spine in this really painful operation, but how it artificially increased his reflexes and strength. This of course made regular hunting too easy for him – even if he did it with his bare hands – and since he lived for the 'thrill of the hunt' it was a 'tragedy'. Then he went on to say some mumbo jumbo about a 'bat-spirit' and the 'ultimate challenge' and then Batman showed up. You know the rest, of course – you've heard it enough times." Matt grinned as he said the last.  
  
Terry smiled with his brother but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I can see how the teacher's explanation would have triggered you to remember a lot of that, and I can see how it would bother you..." Matt cut him off,  
  
"Can we finish the story? Do the fun part? I know that you've heard it a zillion times but stopping there just seems wrong."  
  
Terry smiled for real, "Sure twip, you start."  
  
"You shoulda been there Mom, it was awesome!" Matt said, pretending like he was eight again. Terry grinned and said their mother's line in a funny falsetto,  
  
"Matt, I was so worried!" he rolled his eyes as Matt giggled.  
  
"There was this big guy with a spear and tattoos all over his body and he put me in this cage."  
  
"What? Why?" they both said Mom's line this time and laughed together afterwards.  
  
"I dunno, but then Batman showed up and Bam! Wham! Pow!" Matt said as he swung his fists in exaggerated motions to match the sound effects. "– He saved me." Matt scooted a little closer to Terry on the couch to finish up just like he had that first time, "Batman's soo cool – not a loser like you."  
  
Terry grinned remembering too as he said his line, "Hey, we can't all be Batman," and then he reached out to tousle Matt's hair like he had done that first night as well. His hand was arrested in mid-air though as Matt said softly,  
  
"But you are..."  
  
Terry's eyes were wide and shocked. He stuttered, "How – I mean – What ma – "  
  
"Chill Terry, don't have a spazz attack – I'll explain..." Matt said as he got up from the couch to get his backpack, he pulled out a vid-disc and handed it to Terry. Then after his brother had put the disc in the player, Matt handed Terry his own binoculars back. Terry looked at them and then at Matt.  
  
"I'd wondered where these had gone," was all he said as he turned to face the screen, handing Matt the remote. Matt didn't turn the vid on right away; he turned to his brother instead and began to explain from the start.  
  
"Okay, it's like this... About three weeks ago I saw you and Commissioner Gordon talking together and it looked like the two of you knew each other really well, which got me wondering how the two of you got to be so friendly with each other. After all, as far as I knew – you were just a businessman, y'know? But when I saw you talking to her about her case and looking like you knew what you were talking about – well, it made me think back to the week before that – y'know, when we were out together, and you got into that fight at the arcade. I'd thought at the time that it was really cool you knew to let them throw the first punches – so that you could claim self defense – but then you told them you were gonna call the cops and charge them with assault. It was very law-savvy, and again not something that you would expect from your average businessman."  
  
Terry was nodding. "I see, but I could also just be interested in law as a hobby and have cultivated a friendship with Barbara because of it." Matt smiled as he noted his brother using the Commissioner's first name so easily.  
  
"Yeah, but that wouldn't explain how you can move – in a fight or when you creep up on someone and scare the living daylights out of them like you used to do to mom and me at home all the time." When Terry began to dismiss his fighting as something that he'd always done Matt added one more thing, "Or that you messed up and talked to those dregs that day in the arcade in your Batman voice."  
  
Terry's mouth snapped shut, and his eyes blinked. "What?"  
  
Matt pressed play on the remote for the first time – "Get lost dregs like I already suggested, or I think that I just might have to call the cops and charge you with assault." Then right after was a newsbyte from the week before of Batman talking to some Jokerz who were causing some trouble at a toy store's grand opening, "Go home clowns, can't you tell they don't want you here?" Matt pressed stop.  
  
Terry's eyes were narrow as they looked at his younger brother. "Been busy, have you?" It was the Batman voice and Matt quailed inside. 'It was a very effective intimidation tactic' he admitted to himself, but he kept going anyway,  
  
"Thought that you should know. If I picked up on it, someone else could too – right? Anyway, that wasn't all – there was more. This is more personal stuff though, due solely to my being your brother." Matt saw that the last admission hadn't softened his brother's expression any and suppressed a wince.  
  
"Anyway, back when you were still living at home there were a couple of things that should have been tip offs – if someone was observant enough. One was your tendency to talk to the news. Muttering under your breath for the most part, but there were times when you would get louder. That isn't so unusual, what caught my attention was what you got upset at. It all was stuff that you couldn't possibly know about, not even as Wayne's assistant. It was almost like you had been there, but I knew that couldn't be – except you had been, as Batman." Another quick look at Terry made Matt begin to wonder if his brother's face had solidified in that expression of cold anger.  
  
"Then the others were all the bruises and injuries you kept getting even though you tried to hide them. You're not a clumsy guy, and there was no explanation for why you were always hurt." Thankfully Terry wasn't looking as angry anymore, which Matt took to be a good sign. He just might survive this.  
  
"Then there was this," he pressed play again and a certain old preview for Inside Peek – the one where Ian Peek was going to expose Batman – began to play. He stopped it again when it had run through. Pointedly not looking at Terry he said, "You remember telling me and Mom right before that show was supposed to go on that you were Batman? And we laughed? Guess you got the last laugh on us that night since you were telling the truth after all."  
  
"Matt..." Terry's voice was soft, and thankfully back to its normal tone.  
  
"And here is where you are probably going to hate me for life." Matt's eyes flicked up to meet his brother's briefly before dropping again. He thought he had seen a strange look in his brother's eyes at his words but pushed ahead anyway. "After I started to figure all this stuff out – I had to know for sure. See with my own eyes, y'know what I mean?" Terry um-hmm'd in agreement, so Matt continued. "Anyway, I – um, borrowed those binoculars of yours and staked out the roof over there." He pointed out the window to the next building over.  
  
"Then – two weeks ago Thursday – I saw you fly into one of your windows as Batman and using the binoculars I was able to watch when you took your mask off." Matt braced himself expecting Terry to lose it when he found out his privacy had been invaded. Terry did start to cuss, but it was mild and nowhere near the anger level that Matt had expected.  
  
Matt relaxed a bit and strained to listen to what his brother was muttering, "Damn, the old man was right. Again. Can he never be wrong? Noo – of course not. He's the original Batman and he's infallible. I'm going to have to move to the damned manor – slaggit – I'm still too young to molder..." It degenerated to gibberish after that, but Matt had heard enough that he was struggling to not laugh aloud.  
  
All of a sudden Terry reached over to his coffee table and picked up his old flip phone. He punched in a number and said shortly, "Hey, it's me. Listen Matt is here and he knows. No, I didn't tell him. He pulled a Max – sorta – I'll tell you all about it later okay? I was just calling you to tell you that I was going to open the link with Matt here so that you weren't getting a surprise." Terry abruptly shut the phone and Matt blinked. 'Whoa, Ter you have some stones to hang up on old man Wayne like that,' he thought, and then 'Max?'  
  
Terry walked over to where Matt had seen him nudge something when they came in and flip – something, Matt still couldn't see. As soon as he did part of one wall in the living room slid back to reveal a large vid-screen with the red bat emblem spinning in its center and some other strange electronic gadgets strategically placed around the screen. Matt whistled low in awe, "Schway setup."  
  
Terry threw him a quick grin before facing the screen again. He said in an authoritative voice, "Cave." Matt watched in amazement as the spinning red bat shrunk and an image of Bruce Wayne appeared on the screen. A very unhappy looking Bruce Wayne who was scowling fiercely enough at Matt to make him feel very weak in the knees suddenly. 'Damn is that old man scary!'  
  
The old man's eyes narrowed for a bit and then when Matt didn't outwardly react, he switched their glare over to Terry who didn't even seem to notice it. "So, tell me."  
  
Terry just waved a hand carelessly, "I'll explain later, but suffice it to say – you were right."  
  
"This is supposed to surprise me?" the old man said dryly and Matt stared as a small genuine smile flickered across the old lips. Who knew that the old guy had anything that even resembled a sense of humour? Terry was smiling back affectionately too, Matt saw. He hadn't realized how deep the bond between the two men was before. In a way it left him feeling strangely humbled.  
  
"Anyway old man, seeing as he knows I guess I don't have to beg off patrol tonight after all. But I was thinking – rather than leaving him here all alone, I think that he could be kept out of trouble better if he were at the cave with you while I patrolled."  
  
"Me! Hang out at the batcave? Really?" Matt squeaked in excitement. Then he saw the look on Wayne's face, and his excitement began to fade some. The old man didn't seem to care for the idea but Terry coaxed,  
  
"Come on Bruce, I promise to blindfold him on the way in and out and you can lock down the cave's other entrances in the meantime. What do you say?"  
  
"Fine. Fifteen minutes." The old man snapped and the screen in front of the two brothers snapped back to the black with the spinning red bat symbol on it. Matt just stared at that spinning symbol, allowing it to half hypnotize him as he wondered at his good fortune. He was awed and stunned that he was going to be able to set foot in such a legendary place, even if he wasn't going to be allowed to see where it was. He had his suspicions of course, but that was an investigation for another day.  
  
"I've called the Batmobile already, ready to go?" Terry asked his brother.  
  
Matt spun startled, and did a second double take when he saw his brother was already wearing 'the suit' minus the mask. "Cool." He breathed.  
  
Terry grinned and pulled the mask on in one smooth practiced movement. Then he reached over and handed his brother a black cloth hood. "Here, you'll need this later but for now – fly with me?" Matt followed his brother eagerly to the open window.  
  
"Count of three?" Terry asked and when Matt nodded, started to count. "One, two, three!"  
  
All Matt could say as they flew down to the approaching Batmobile was, "Whoohooo!"

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End (or actually TBC because my beta threatened me with some strange and agonizing procedures if I left it there... so there is one being worked on to follow right up on the tail of this, but after that is done suggestions and ideas of further Matt adventures are welcome. :-)


	2. Matt in the Cave

A.N. Thank you, Phoenix, C-wolf, MoonDancerCat, Amber and CAT-grl for your reviews, I really appreciate them. I think that there might be one last story from this idea, but its going to be a long one if I ever manage to get it done. It will be a very seperate story too, following months after all of these little insights.

MoonDancerCat: I think that you called it right when you said a new Robin would be too raw and I hope you like this one as much as you liked the last. And about the spinning bat thing, I got the red bat mixed up with something else.. I remembered from the eps Payback and Dead Man's Hand that when Terry remotely connected with the Bat-computer that a red bat popped up, but I didn't remember how it went from a dot to the bat.. which is what got confused. If that made _any_ sense g.

C-Wolf: Thanks for the suggestion. :)

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Disclaimer: Dreaming on...  
  
Description: When Terry drops Matt off in the Cave with Bruce, do they manage to get along?  
  
Matt in the Cave By Marns AKA Bumpkin Rated: PG  
  
"Okay Matt, you can take the hood off now." Terry's muffled voice said and Matt yanked the stifling fabric from his face gratefully. He absolutely hated having to re-breathe his own breath; it always made him feel half suffocated.  
  
Looking out of the red tinted windshield with interest, Matt saw that they were just reaching the end of a long tunnel and that Terry was braking the fast car to settle on a landing pad. The cockpit whooshed open and Terry helped his younger brother out of the fantastic vehicle before leaping out himself and pulling his cowl off.  
  
Terry had to grin at the way his younger brother was gawking around at his surroundings awestruck. His grin turned into a full-throated laugh when he had to physically get the younger boy's attention to motion for him to follow Terry to where Bruce was sitting and waiting for them at the huge computer. Striding confidently, Terry led a shuffling Matt through the cave to Bruce's side at the large Cray computer system.  
  
"It's later," the old man barked at Terry.  
  
Matt was momentarily confused by the abrupt words until he remembered his brother brushing off Mr. Wayne's questions earlier at the apartment. Looks like Terry had some 'splaining to do,' Matt was just glad that it was Terry under fire and not him. Any doubts he had about Wayne being the original Batman were gone since Matt had seen the old man in the vidscreen and been transfixed with that glare. Before that, Matt had only ever really encountered Wayne's 'public' persona he guessed. It could be grumpy and even mean at times, but it never approached the level of lethality that emanated from the old man now. 'Meeting the original Batman – if it wasn't so terrifying it would be very cool,' Matt thought sardonically.  
  
"I never would have guessed that Matt had such the good makings of a detective in him Bruce, I have to say that I'm rather proud of him..."  
  
Matt stood mute as he half listened as his brother told his boss a condensed version of how Matt had figured it all out. To say that Mr. Wayne wasn't impressed with Terry at that moment would be an understatement. Matt cringed as Bruce berated his brother for carelessness, 'Dang, Mom is a powder puff compared to this guy.' Amazingly, none of it seemed to bother Terry in the least. Matt was awed with his brother all over again for yet another reason.  
  
Then he listened with a hanging mouth and even wider eyes as his brother and Bruce Wayne talked about what Terry should look out for while he was out on patrol and other things. He had known that his brother was Batman, but to be provided with such in your face proof... While the information totally kicked, it was also still a bit boggling.  
  
He barely noticed when the conversation between the two men stopped, but was abruptly drawn back to the present when Terry, fully suited up, loped back to the Batmobile and called over his shoulder in lighthearted admonition, "When I get back later I hope to find that the two of you have made friends – or at the very least, that I haven't suddenly become an only child."  
  
At first Matt gulped in fright, Bruce Wayne could make a normal person's bones turn to water with just a glare. His fright quickly dissolved and he had to gulp again soon afterwards to stifle the bubble of laughter that surged up as he heard Bruce growl at his flip young protégé, "Save the clever thinking for when you are facing a criminal McGinnis – it might save you from getting hurt one of these days."  
  
The grin resulting from the suppressed laughter lingered on his face right up until the two left behind could no longer hear the whine of the Batmobile's turbines. That's when the sharp blue eyes of the original Batman fixed themselves on Matt. The felt like they were cutting right through his skin to the soul underneath, assessing and weighing him for any flaws or weaknesses. It felt like an eternity and Matt sighed with relief when Mr. Wayne shifted his attention back to the large computer screen. He guessed that he must have passed or something because he was still breathing and not being subjected to any freaking memory wiping treatments  
  
There's an uncomfortable silence that seems to stretch out for a long time. Finally, not feeling able to dealing with the kid's nervous fidgeting any longer, Bruce broke it. "So..."  
  
Matt forces a fair facsimile of his normal carefree grin, trying to suppress the nervousness he was feeling. "Let me guess, you're really not big on entertaining if you have a choice – are you?"  
  
"No, not really..." he answered shortly with a slight smile. Bruce was enjoying the younger brother's astuteness.  
  
"Umm – well, I could get out of your hair for a while and entertain myself. If you didn't mind me wandering around over there that is." Matt's hand waved vaguely in the direction of all the museum-style displays of Gotham's past criminals.  
  
To answer, Bruce leaned forward and started hitting switches on the large computer in front of him, remotely lighting the overheads of the indicated area up. "Go ahead," he rumbled. "Just keep one thing in mind at all times." He locked eyes with his young guest and Matt learned just where Terry had acquired that new intent stare of his. "Touch _nothing_. Understood?"  
  
Matt nodded solemnly, hoping that the betraying clacking of his knees shaking didn't betray how unnerved he had become, yet again, in an instant. He wandered into the now brightly lit area containing the colorful and deadly remnants of the past, trying to figure out how he felt about meeting one of his idols and being subsequently terrified by him.  
  
Coming to the first display he forgot everything but what was in front of him. "Oh man, it's the Riddler's suit! Edward Nygma, the super genius puzzler. Never did find that ultimate riddle did ya buddy?"  
  
He glanced over to the next display. "Schway! Victor Fries' Mr. Freeze gear, except I don't see the freeze gun – weird. Hmm, I wonder what the real story was back when I was eight and he disappeared after getting made all normal again... " Matt shrugged and looked over the top of the domed helmet.  
  
When he did, he saw the distinctive red and black pattern of Harley Quinn's suit. "The clown princess of crime, Harleen Quinzelle, brilliant psychoanalyst seduced to the dark side by the Joker. A woman with seriously strange taste in pets, as well as in men."  
  
Matt wandered on to the next exhibit that caught his eye, talking out loud the entire time; not realizing that everything he was saying had been very distinctly heard by the other occupant of the cave.  
  
Bruce knew that his young guest didn't know his every word was being so clearly overheard due to the way that things echoed in the subterranean chamber. He found himself amused and intrigued as he listened to Matt recite the history of each costume and artifact in brief, with relatively few inaccuracies.  
  
As Matt kept going though the exhibits without any pauses in pace or recall, Bruce found himself even reluctantly impressed. 'This kid sure has some historical acumen,' he thought to himself as he made careful mental notes of the few things that Matt did get wrong as well as things that were skipped over. He waited patiently, listening as Matt finished his self- guided and narrated tour, for the young history buff to rejoin him at the computer.  
  
As soon as the young man did, Bruce fixed him with a gimlet stare. "So – you fancy yourself a historian for Gotham do you?" he asked and Matt blushed.  
  
Matt blushed. 'Damn, I shoulda known that nothing would happen in this place without him knowing about it. He must have heard everything that I said.' He groaned, wondering how much he had gotten wrong.  
  
Then the old man surprised him by saying in an offhand manner. "I was quite impressed by both, how much you knew, and how much you actually got right." Matt could feel himself inflating like a balloon with the praise being bestowed on him by the retired hero. Mr. Wayne wasn't done yet though,  
  
"But there were some things that you got wrong, and of course there are the things that you have no clue about." 'Whoosh!' Matt felt like his balloon self had been pricked with a very sharp pin.  
  
"Oh... Sorry about that. I didn't mean to offend you." He offered up quietly.  
  
"You didn't." The old man's tone was brusque. "There's no way that you could have known about some of it, and for the rest – unless you had been told by a member of the 'Bat'-clan it would have been impossible."  
  
Matt blinked. "Oh... umm, okay then." He had to bite his tongue very hard not to ask all the questions that immediately sprang to mind at that little nugget of information, but he managed. 'Even if my curiosity is going to kill me, I won't ask.' He resolved to himself, but then Bruce surprised him again.  
  
"Would you like to know?"  
  
Matt's eyes bugged and he nodded. Bruce guessed that he didn't trust his voice at the moment. He gave the younger McGinnis a small half smile and said, "You know it's funny, you seem to know more about my history in Gotham than your brother who – as too many are unfortunately aware of now, including yourself – is the current Batman."  
  
Matt startled Bruce this time by laughing. "You might not know Terry as well as you think Mr. Wayne. Most of what I know is from the books that he left behind when my parents split. Before Terry got involved with – " He hesitated for a moment, not knowing if Terry's criminal past was a taboo subject or not with Mr. Wayne. Shrugging off his concern – he had no doubts that the old man had forgotten more about Terry's official record than Matt had ever known – he finished. "– the gangs, he was quite the 'Bat' history buff."  
  
Surprised, Bruce stared at Matt for a moment as incidents in the past sprung to mind. The first time they encountered Inque, as well as the second. All the times that Terry had deflected him from a lecture by asking him what he would have done in the same circumstances... Then Bruce's eyes narrowed, and he got a very nasty little smile on his face.  
  
Matt winced, 'Ooops, I guess that I got Terry in some kind of trouble...' Then he stops for a moment and chuckles, 'a little brother's work is never done!'  
  
End.


End file.
